Landmark Church Burns
Historic Pilgrim Baptist Church Destroyed By Fire

http://images.ibsys.com/2006/0106/5892202_240X180.jpg

CHICAGO -- Emergency crews are responding to a massive fire at a landmark church on Chicago's South Side Friday afternoon.

Fire Chief Dennis Gault says there are no reports of injuries, but five ambulances are on standby.

He says the roof has collapsed and the fire department is in defensive mode as they fight the blaze.

The church is called the Pilgrim Baptist Church, built between 1890 and 1891. Architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler designed the famous structure.

Pilgrim Baptist Church is a museum for musicians, Jewish historians, artists and architects. All of them make regular visits to the church, which was designated a Chicago landmark in 1981.

Tourists from all over the world came to see the church, the workplace of famed gospel composer and choir leader Thomas A. Dorsey. When the building was constructed, it housed the KAM Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Chicago.

The church housed the mural of William A. Scott, one of the first black students of the Art Institute of Chicago.

A large stained-glass window designed by Louis Millet has been in the church since it was built as a synagogue.

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A real loss that put the name change at Filed's look frivolous...


Fire rages at historic church




By Dan Blake
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 6, 2006, 4:23 PM CST


A fire was sweeping through a South Side church this afternoon, prompting an emergency extra-alarm response.

A still alarm was originally called out for the blaze at the Pilgrim Baptist Church, 3301 S. Indiana Ave., at around 3:07 p.m. and raised to a 4-11 alarm just before 3:30 p.m., according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Larry Langford.

Langford said the cause of the fire appeared accidental, possibly caused by work being done on the roof.

No injuries were reported as of 3:40 p.m., but fire officials were moving back onlookers due to the building collapsing, he said.

"The fire spread very quickly and the roof has already been consumed," Langford said by telephone from the scene. "We're keeping everyone away from the building, [the fire] is way out of control."

Brick chimneys at the rear of church fell about 3:50 p.m., crashing onto power lines and shaking the ground as they collapsed. About two dozen people were in an alley east of Indiana Avenue and ran as the big columns started to fall.

Neighbors said they saw construction workers on the roof of the church before the fire. They had been working there since about Christmas, they said.

The flames were so intense, cars parked on 33rd Street caught on fire, CLTV reported.

Langford said no rescues were made and the workers had evacuated the building prior to firefighters' arrival.

Firefighters were continuing to battle the blaze as of 3:40 p.m., Langford said.

Built in 1890-91, the church was designated a Chicago landmark in 1981.

Tribune staff reporter Andrew Wang contributed.

That's a terrible sight! A magnificent church was burnt to the ground. Is it related to arson?

I saw smoke when I was driving downtown on Lake Shore Drive, now I know what it was.

http://a1022.g.akamai.net/f/1022/8153/5m/images.chicagotribune.com/media/thumbnails/blurb/2006-01/21312671.jpg

Fire rages at historic church

By Dan Blake
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 6, 2006, 4:23 PM CST


A fire was sweeping through a South Side church this afternoon, prompting an emergency extra-alarm response.

A still alarm was originally called out for the blaze at the Pilgrim Baptist Church, 3301 S. Indiana Ave., at around 3:07 p.m. and raised to a 4-11 alarm just before 3:30 p.m., according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Larry Langford.

Langford said the cause of the fire appeared accidental, possibly caused by work being done on the roof.

No injuries were reported as of 3:40 p.m., but fire officials were moving back onlookers due to the building collapsing, he said.

"The fire spread very quickly and the roof has already been consumed," Langford said by telephone from the scene. "We're keeping everyone away from the building, [the fire] is way out of control."

Brick chimneys at the rear of church fell about 3:50 p.m., crashing onto power lines and shaking the ground as they collapsed. About two dozen people were in an alley east of Indiana Avenue and ran as the big columns started to fall.

Neighbors said they saw construction workers on the roof of the church before the fire. They had been working there since about Christmas, they said.

The flames were so intense, cars parked on 33rd Street caught on fire, CLTV reported.

Langford said no rescues were made and the workers had evacuated the building prior to firefighters' arrival.

Firefighters were continuing to battle the blaze as of 3:40 p.m., Langford said.

Built in 1890-91, the church was designated a Chicago landmark in 1981.

Tribune staff reporter Andrew Wang contributed.

I saw the Fire and the smoke from I-55, coming from Lake Shore Dr.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/2273/1214a2ex.jpg

Jadran Lee

Looks like they're planning to rebuild, but if they plan to rebuild in the same manner is unclear.

Rebuild they must. People from all over Chicago should fundraise to build it back to it's former glory. Even better than before the fire.

^ If they built the exact same looking building, would it still be the 'same'?

Probably not.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-060110churchfire,1,7284902.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Money flowing in to rebuild landmark church destroyed by fire

By ANNA JOHNSON
Published January 10, 2006, 11:46 AM CST

Money is flowing in to rebuild a 115-year-old church just days after a fire left it a charred shell, with other churches holding collections, Gov. Rod Blagojevich promising state funds and a prominent Chicago family vowing to match donations.

Blagojevich on Monday night pledged $1 million from the state's capital fund to help rebuild the landmark Pilgrim Baptist Church. He also donated $1,000 of his own money.

``This investment is much bigger than just rebuilding a church,'' the governor told reporters in Chicago, citing the rich history of the church considered the birthplace of gospel music.

The Pritzker Family Foundation also announced Tuesday it would match private donations up to $500,000 to help rebuild the church and restore its artifacts.

Authorities said Monday that torches used by workers putting final touches on a new church roof sparked the blaze. Police do not believe criminal action contributed to the start of the fire, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.

The church, designed in the late 1800s by the famous architectural firm headed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, had been in the midst of a renovation project. An elevator was being installed, and roofers were adding copper gutters Friday, said Robert Vaughn, chairman of the church's trustees.

A donation fund was set up at the Amalgamated Bank of Chicago, and churches across the city held special collections for the rebuilding effort during Sunday services, Vaughn said.

Chicago cultural historian Tim Samuelson said Pilgrim, originally built as a synagogue where Adler's father was the head rabbi, had ``many layers of history,'' much of which was forever lost in the blaze.

``It was one of the most influential black congregations of Chicago in the 1920s and beyond,'' he said. ``It was the creative incubator for modern gospel music. ... There are so many layers to this tragedy it's hard to even describe them or put in any kind of order of importance.''

Many of the lost artifacts belonged to Thomas A. Dorsey, the father of gospel music. He was Pilgrim's music director from 1932 until the late 1970s, and his all-time greatest hit, ``Take My Hand, Precious Lord,'' was popularized by the late Mahalia Jackson and became the favorite song of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sheet music crafted by Dorsey and colorful robes he wore were stored in the church's choir room. Also destroyed were photographs; cassette tapes and videotapes documenting church celebrations; large religious murals; and a gallery of portraits that included past ministers and Dorsey.

Illinois Institute of Technology associate professor Glenn Broadhead, whose students had been working on several projects with the Pilgrim congregation, said one of the greatest losses was a meticulous record-keeping book that since the 1920s tracked the church's growth and decline in membership.

Pilgrim had 10,000 members at the height of its popularity in the 1940s. The congregation numbered a few hundred at the time of the fire, church officials said.

With the church building gone and many artifacts lost forever, Broadhead has requested an emergency IIT course this spring to get students to help interview longtime Pilgrim members.

``Everyone is feeling the pain, and this may be the time to see what we can do to collect what we have left,'' he said.

But for one of Pilgrim's past ministers, the increased attention on the church is bittersweet.

During the Rev. Hycel B. Taylor's four years at Pilgrim beginning in 2001, he tried to raise money to renovate the ailing church, which was designated a Chicago landmark in 1981.

One of his goals was to create a museum honoring the church and Dorsey. But he left before he could raise the funds and move the artifacts to a church community center across the street.

Now, the would-be museum's collection is gone.

``The great tragedy is, in my fourth year there, I tried to raise the money to preserve the church,'' Taylor said. ``And a fire destroys it, and now everyone wants to donate.''

Taylor hopes other churches take heed and begin preserving their past before it's too late.

``Let us not wait until they burn to the ground in this dramatic way,'' he said. ``Otherwise our history will be left to the memory.''

This is exactly the kind of structure that should be rebuilt since it combines both historical and architectural significance. Adler and Sullivan are Chicago Architecture and their works should be saved as much if not more than Frank LLoyd Wright's. (I still miss the Garrick Theater.) If buildings are documented, they can be recreated from the ashes witness Dresden's Frauenkirche. Furthermore Gospel music as developed in the black churches in the early part of the century was the forrunner to rhythm and blues and ultimately rock and roll. Because of the overlay of religion, much of this music is not known to many Americans, Chicago has a trove of black artistry which should be preserved and celebrated. Good Luck.

^ If they built the exact same looking building, would it still be the 'same'?
I think they should rebuilt. Many buildings are rebuilt in Europe and noone complains :)

I think they should rebuilt. Many buildings are rebuilt in Europe and noone complains :)

Hey, that's a good point. So what if it isn't the same building. It'll still have the same beauty to it. :)

Donations give Pilgrim Baptist hope to rebuild
January 10, 2006

BY ANNA JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/pilg10.html

Ever since the Pilgrim Baptist Church went up in flames last week, officials have vowed to rebuild the landmark church on the city's South Side.

On Tuesday, a prominent Chicago family offered to match donations to the church that is known as the birthplace of gospel music.

"We said we were going to rebuild on this corner and I had no idea how," Alfonso Carrington, the chairman of the church's deacon's board, said on Tuesday. "But now I know it's going to happen."

Chicago's Pritzker Family Foundation announced on Tuesday it would match private donations up to $500,000 to help rebuild the church and restore its artifacts. The donation came a day after Gov. Rod Blagojevich pledged $1 million from the state's capital fund to help rebuild an administrative building at the church. He also donated $1,000 of his own money.

"I can't say how happy and overwhelmed I am with getting these gifts," said Robert Vaughn, chairman of the church's trustees. "I can see a magnificent church coming."

Dave Lundy, a spokesman for the Pritzker foundation, said the family has supported Pilgrim and its gospel legacy for years.

Investigators said this week that heating torches being used by crews renovating the church's roof caused the fire. Authorities do not believe any criminal action contributed to the start of the fire that consumed the 115-year-old building.

The church, designed in the late 1800s by the famous architectural firm headed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, had been in the midst of a renovation project. An elevator was being installed, and roofers were adding copper gutters Friday, Vaughn said.

Money to rebuild the church is coming in through large donations and from people making deposits into a fund set up a Chicago bank. Others have been leaving messages on the church's voice mail offering to help, Vaughn said.

The church hoped to hire structural engineers to examine what's left of the church and determine what can be salvaged, Carrington said. The church is insured, but it's unclear how much the church can expect to collect.

"We're in very good spirits, not looking backward but looking forward," Carrington said.

this originaly was a synagogue for the KAM organization/congregation. sullivan used to work along side Dankmar Adler(a jew) who designed and i think donated the adler planetarium to the city. both sullivan and Adler who were partners at the time in the architectur business designed this for the reform jews of the time -just a tid bit.

Rebuild it. If it was really undergoing a good rehab, there should be good documentation. Although it looks like the original design was better, with buttressing at the corners and a hipped roof clerestory. From http://lynnbecker.com//repeat/

http://lynnbecker.com//repeat/pilgrim/originalrendering.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Pilgrim_Baptist_Church_fa%C3%A7ade_support.jpg/800px-Pilgrim_Baptist_Church_fa%C3%A7ade_support.jpg

22 December 2006

I just heard that Johnson & Lee has been chosen to rebuild Pilgrim Baptist, using an out-of-town firm (Quinn Evans of Ann Arbor) for the preservation aspects.

I would have expected that work to go to HPZS or Vinci.

this originaly was a synagogue for the KAM organization/congregation. sullivan used to work along side Dankmar Adler(a jew) who designed and i think donated the adler planetarium to the city. both sullivan and Adler who were partners at the time in the architectur business designed this for the reform jews of the time -just a tid bit.

The Planetarium wasn't provided by that Adler, it was actually funded by Chicago philanthropist Max Adler; not sure if there was any relation between him and Dankmar Adler, there very well could have been, but not certain here.